Abstract
It is unclear why and under what circumstances working memory (WM) and attention interact. Here, we apply the logic of the time-based resource-sharing (TBRS) model of WM (e.g., Barrouillet et al., 2004) to explore the mixed findings of a separate, but related, literature that studies the guidance of visual attention by WM contents. Specifically, we hypothesize that the linkage between WM representations and visual attention is governed by a time-shared cognitive resource that alternately refreshes internal (WM) and selects external (visual attention) information. If this were the case, WM content should guide visual attention (involuntarily), but only when there is time for it to be refreshed in an internal focus of attention. To provide an initial test for this hypothesis, we examined whether the amount of unoccupied time during a WM delay could impact the magnitude of attentional capture by WM contents. Participants were presented with a series of visual search trials while they maintained a WM cue for a delayed-recognition test. WM cues could coincide with the search target, a distracter, or neither. We varied both the number of searches to be performed, and the amount of available time to perform them. Slowing of visual search by a WM matching distracter—and facilitation by a matching target—were curtailed when the delay was filled with fast-paced (refreshing-preventing) search trials, as was subsequent memory probe accuracy. WM content may, therefore, only capture visual attention when it can be refreshed, suggesting that internal (WM) and external attention demands reciprocally impact one another because they share a limited resource. The TBRS rationale can thus be applied in a novel context to explain why WM contents capture attention, and under what conditions that effect should be observed.
Highlights
That sustained attention was not required for selective maintenance in WM (Hollingworth and Maxcey-Richard, 2012)
Participants were given 2000 ms to complete the visual search, but they typically took less than half of that time to respond, indicating that there was ample time within the visual search window to redirect the focus of attention back to refresh the WM content
If what have previously been considered distinct cognitive concepts (i.e., WM and attention) rely on a common resource, and that resource can be trained or enhanced (e.g., Anguera et al, 2013; Kundu et al, 2013), a specific characterization of its underlying capacity can contribute to understanding and enhancement of information processing in multiple realms of cognition
Summary
That sustained attention was not required for selective maintenance in WM (Hollingworth and Maxcey-Richard, 2012). In this example, participants were given 2000 ms to complete the visual search, but they typically took less than half of that time to respond, indicating that there was ample time within the visual search window to redirect the focus of attention back to refresh the WM content. Unbroken sustained attention is unnecessary to maintain WM, as long as there is some opportunity to occasionally refresh the WM content. The mechanism tested can be used to reconcile a collection of seemingly inconsistent findi
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